Gaza: Ban Reiterates Commitment To Plight Of Palestine

New York, Feb 2 2012 1:10PMSecretary-General Ban
Ki-moon travelled today to the Gaza Strip, where he
underlined his commitment to continue working for peace and
stability in the Middle East, and voiced his concern about
the need to increase humanitarian assistance for
Palestinians.

Mr. Ban is currently in the region to
encourage Palestinian and Israeli authorities to continue
the talks they started in Jordan earlier this month – and
to assess the progress and challenges on the road to
peace.

During his visit, Mr. Ban toured a United Nations
Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) housing project and a
girls’ school. He also met with children who suffered
serious injuries during the conflict, and said he was deeply
moved by their stories.

In a press encounter this morning, Mr. Ban
emphasized that the UN would continue its work in the
region, which ranges from infrastructure projects such as
building housing units, schools and water treatment
facilities, to humanitarian assistance and longer-term
initiatives involving the people of Gaza to stimulate
economic and social growth.

“There needs to be further,
immediate and more far-reaching changes, including an end to
the Palestinian divide,” Mr. Ban told reporters. “I am
pressing hard for policy changes to enable the United
Nations and others to carry out our essential work,” he
said.

Earlier this month, the UN launched an emergency
appeal for just over $300 million to assist Palestinians
living in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank who are still
dealing with the effects of a conflict that ended three
years ago, as well as various humanitarian needs.

As part
of his visit, Mr. Ban was supposed to meet with business and
civil society representatives, but this was cancelled when
dozens of Palestinians staged a protest as Mr. Ban’s
convoy crossed into Gaza from Israel. Protesters, many of
whom were relatives of Palestinian prisoners in Israeli
jails, threw shoes and other objects at the convoy.

“That is why I am here
again for the third time. There are very dire social,
economic and humanitarian problems. People need to be able
to move freely. Goods must be imported and exported without
any restrictions. That is why I have been urging the Israeli
authorities to lift completely and unconditionally the
restrictions.”

Mr. Ban later travelled to Erez in
Israel, where he toured Sapir College and met with survivors
of a rocket attack last year against a school bus. Speaking
at the school, he said that nothing justified the
indiscriminate firing of rockets and mortars into
Israel.

Later today, in an address to the Herzliya 2012
conference in Tel Aviv, the Secretary-General is expected to
discuss the Arab Spring reform movement and its impact on
the region. He will also meet with Israeli Defence Minister
Ehud Barak.Feb 2 2012
1:10PM________________For more details go to UN News
Centre at http://www.un.org/news

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